Your business has taken all the strides to adapt to the modern age. It’s been equipped with social media profiles, an email marketing campaign – all the digital marketing bells and whistles.
But it turns out, there’s one thing you didn’t prepare for when committing to the age of the internet.
What is it? Negative online reviews.
These dreaded comments on social media profiles and Yelp pages can come as a nasty shock and a bit of an emotional blow. But how can you deal with them properly so the bad reviews left by the occasional dissatisfied customer can be more than a bad start to the day?
For 6 of our top tips on staying positive in the face of negative online reviews, keep reading!
1. Remember, You Can’t Please Everyone
When it comes to dealing with negative reviews from customers, it’s absolutely necessary that you recognize that there’s never been a business or organization that hasn’t gotten a bad review. You may take those negative words personally but you’re far from the first to do so.
With over 7.6 billion humans on the face of the earth, there’s bound to be one who’s having a bad day. There’s bound to be another who had unrealistic expectations, and another who caught your employees on an off day.
It’s unrealistic to expect to please everyone every day. One bad review doesn’t mean the end of your business – it just means someone felt they had something to say. Read it and accept the feedback, then move forward!
2. Know That Bad Reviews Aren’t Always Indicative of Your Quality
Remember that moody customer we mentioned? The one who had an awful day where everything kept going wrong, then your website was slow to load or their order took a bit long to fill and it just pushed them over the edge?
Their bad day isn’t always indicative of the quality of your business overall. So, don’t think it is!
Chances are, for each negative review you’ve gotten, there are two or three or ten good ones to match it. You probably have hordes of customers who come through your doors or inbox who feel totally satisfied with their experience.
They just may not take to Yelp to talk about it.
Just because you’ve received a bad review or two doesn’t mean your business is doing anything fundamentally wrong. Negative feedback is rarely, if ever, indicative of the quality of your business overall!
3. Understand That Bad Reviews Can Build Credibility
Have you ever found yourself scrolling through a list of reviews for a business and found yourself skeptical of those reviews?
They’re all 5 stars! Can they even be real? Has this business paid for fake reviews?!
The occasional bad review can actually help your business’s credibility and the believability of the good reviews. It shows that your business has nothing to hide.
If there’s one bad review for every 10 glowing ones, it’ll be easy for your customers to shrug off the negative comments left by that one bitter client.
A study conducted by Harvard University actually proves that 95% of customers are more likely to believe in and trust a business that’s got a mix of good and negative reviews. Your clients know that no one is perfect; they value a business’s willingness to admit this fact about themselves.
4. Remember That Every Bad Review Is a Chance to Grow
Okay, we’ll admit: Some bad reviews are just plain…bad.
Some customers like to complain for the sake of complaining. But, in the case of many negative reviews, there’s something to be taken away and implemented toward improving your company and its services.
Try to set emotion aside when reading bad reviews. If you need help in this department, check out this helpful site.
Look at them objectively and ask yourself whether there’s anything that your company can do to prevent future negative experiences. Ask yourself how your team might implement this negative feedback to improve its processes as a whole.
An important aspect of running any sort of business is the ability to grow and adapt to an ever-changing market. If you’re not growing and adapting, your company will fall out of favor in the blink of an eye! Look at your negative reviews as a constructive tool-as advice for helping you grow.
5. Respond to Your Bad Reviews Publicly
There’s only one thing that gives a negative review genuine power against your business. It’s your team’s failure to respond to that negative review with efforts to right the situation.
Responding publicly to the situation, however, helps your company in a number of ways. It gives the opportunity for you to regain respect from the client who issued the negative review. It also demonstrates your commitment to doing things right to the rest of your customers.
If you think customers won’t pay attention to your response to negative situations, think again. Studies show that businesses, like hotels, that publicly reply to negative reviews actually see a significant uptick in revenue once they establish a regular response pattern to negative feedback.
6. Encourage All Sorts of Reviews
One of the most proactive ways anyone can possibly work to manage negative reviews is to go out of their way to ask clients for reviews.
This accomplishes several things. First, it shows clients that you value their opinions.
Second, it helps you to boost the concentration of positive reviews on your page. And finally, it gives a better sample size of reviews from a broader range of customers.
Consider offering small incentives to customers who go out of their way to review your services. A small coupon or giveaway for participating clients can go a long way.
Plus, encouraging reviews from your customers gives you a greater pool of feedback to work with. This allows you to show your customers all the ways in which you’ve implemented their feedback! They’ll see firsthand what a customer-oriented company you are.
Want More Tips on Dealing with Online Reviews?
Handling online reviews-good and bad-can be a bit overwhelming! Just keep in mind the fact that any feedback from your clients can be useful feedback, and remember not to get discouraged.
For more info on how to deal with online reviews, and other digital marketing content, check out our digital marketing page!
